


Coming Down

by DifferentDances



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Kink Meme, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DifferentDances/pseuds/DifferentDances
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by this prompt (http://strek-id-kink.livejournal.com/1695.html?thread=98463#t98463): "I mean come on, they're obviously married. Keenser being all upset about scotty leaving him behind with old spock, even though scotty was only doing it to keep him safe. scotty's constant nagging over keenser climbing all over everything. scotty going back for keenser. Keenser standing by his man when scotty resigns. putting up with scotty's drunk shenanigans and guilt tripping him into helping kirk. again leaving keenser behind to keep him safe....</p><p>I just really want some domestic fluff (or smut) for this couple."</p><p>Includes totally made up Keenser biology/culture, and plenty of Scotty being Scotty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Down

Montgomery Scott has always been more than a little ferverently devoted to the spaceships of Starfleet (and a secretly obsessive fan of whatever data Starfleet had on the Klingon warbirds). This tendency to fall passionately in love with what others referred to -far out of Scotty's earshot- as mere metal alloys bolted together left him a little on the outskirts of social niceties. 

Sure, he enjoyed the plump bottom of any lass or lad as much as the next red-blooded Scotsman, and company shared over a finely aged whiskey made every drop taste that much better. But inevitably the exasperated sort of affection regarding his obsession with nasals and warpcores devolved into irritation, jealousy, and finally resigned departure from those that had seen something more to him than a dedicated engineer.

The two bright spots in his cloud of doom when Admiral Archer's prize beagle went missing were that 1) transwarp beaming (probably) worked, and 2) being exiled to a distant, frozen outpost would let him sort out his thoughts in privacy with neither ships nor love interests to distract him.

He spent one long month on that frozen rock before he admitted to himself that as much as he loved his schematics and equations and theoretical transwarp experiments, being all by himself with little more than the echoes of his voice off the metal in the observation station was driving him insane. The lack of real food didn't help; he'd kill for a sandwich. 

Then Keenser arrived, and Scotty didn't quite know what to make of the short alien who spoke only with his little eyestalks and occasional body language. Scotty's voice still echoed through the little station, but having a real audience -someone besides his own mind- made the station feel less empty.

It was rather hard, though, to open up a dialogue with someone who didn't talk. So Scotty added research into Keenser's home planet and culture to his rotation of hobbies between the mindnumbing ease of checking the data gathering equipment.

And that was how he learned one way Keenser 'spoke.'

He connected the dots one afternoon or evening - it hardly mattered on that rock. He had fallen into one of his sullen sulks, and had been on the verge of deleting weeks worth of theoretical equations he'd been exploring. He was never going to be forgiven; he knew intellectually that some people viewed their pets as dearer than children, but he'd never imagined an Admiral of Starfleet to hold to that sentiment.

He really wanted some whiskey, and dropped his chin onto his upright palm with morose frustration. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Keenser had climbed atop one of the non-operational transmats. "Get down from there!" he snapped. "That's not a tree! And there are no threats here!" 

Keenser gazed at him evenly, but did not move. 

"Seriously, I know that your people have this instinct to climb up the nearest tree to get out of danger, but look at this dump! There's nothing here! I suppose you could go out for a walk if you want to meet the local beasties!" He gestured abruptly to the large, rarely-used door.

If anything, Keenser seemed to begin looking for a higher perch.

Scotty stared at his silent partner and sighed. "Look, you can't just go climbing on things." He stood up and approached Keenser. "Come on down, then."

Keenser gave him a cautious once-over, then nodded and hopped down. Without further ado, Keenser returned to his workstation.

 _Well then, what was all that about?_ Scotty pondered. The only thing that could have frightened Keenser was Scotty in his rare foul mood.

Scotty blinked, and connected the dots to vague phrases in the texts he'd read. (Why did social sciences make things so vague? The beauty of engineering was its exactness.)

Keenser had climbed up high because he was worried about Scotty. And when Scotty had gotten even more irate, he'd tried looking for a taller perch.

It was a social signal, a wake-up call, that was clear in Keenser's society - you could hardly not notice if a loved one suddenly got off the ground, especially when all primitive threats had been neutralized by civilization.

Scotty found himself oddly touched, if a little dubious as to the accuracy of his conclusion.

Keenser reinforced Scotty's impression when that mad old Vulcan and young Starfleet member with perfect hair offered up a transwarp equation and promise of adventure off the icy rock: the little green man refused to get down from the transmats.

As Scotty understood it, he and Perfect Hair would be beaming into a volatile situation on a ship (beautiful ship, though!) in the midst of an isolated and overwhelming war. Keenser's concern was completely appropriate...and Scotty refused to drag Keenser along.

"No, you stay here," he told him, his voice gentle but firm. He'd become fond of his odd, silent partner, and knew without him his sanity was foregone. This way...this way if everything went to hell, and he was further banished, he had the hope of being joined once more by Keenser.

Keenser's mournful eyes were never more eloquent; Scotty wished he had the same ability. 

The excitement of nearly drowning and then taking on Nero and then escaping that black hole pushed thoughts of Keenser from his mind. Once they'd returned to Earth, though, he remembered Keenser, and wondered who remained in the chain of command to transfer Keenser to a place less frozen.

It was Kirk who came through, once again; first the daft man approached him with a demand that he -Montgomery Scott- fill the position of Chief Engineer on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Too surprised for words (having gone from desolate exile to not just a member of the newest flagship of Starfleet but Chief Engineer?), his silence unnerved Kirk into blurting that no matter what, he had to have Scotty there with him as part of his crew, and if there were any Starfleet members Scotty wanted nearby, Kirk would arrange for transfer orders to go through.

Looking into Kirk's flustered, determined face, Scotty had blinked, and requested Keenser's transfer. Kirk's smile of relief had nothing on the odd nervousness filling Scotty's stomach at the though of seeing his silent partner again, after that last heartbreaking gaze.

The reunion was true to form. The shuttle carrying Keenser arrived in the Enterprise's docking bay, and then Keenser exited - not out the door as Scotty had expected, but up and around the roof of the shuttle. His eyestalks twitched about nervously until they fell on Scotty.

That slightly gaping jaw right there, Scotty smugly realized, was how Keenser looked when he was surprised. He marched forward with a grin. "Come down, you. You're with me."

Keenser _bounced_ down and quickly fell into step beside him as he started proudly detailing all the changes they were making to the Enterprise in the refurbishment. Keenser listened appreciatively, which was another wonderful thing about him.

Through the Enterprise's first year of missions, Scotty came to realize that in a crisis, Keenser was pretty reliable and steadfast. He only went climbing when he worried about Scotty, a fact that touched Scotty to no end.

Possessing as bad a track record when it came to relationships as he had, Scotty was entirely uncertain how to make a move on his friend and most trusted companion. He had good friends - Kirk ranked very highly on Scotty's short but beloved list of company to keep over a bottle of whiskey - but Keenser kept him grounded. Instead of resenting the Enterprise for the attention Scotty gave her, Keenser accepted and seemed to like that obsessiveness of Scotty's. 

Of course, Keenser was quick to hand him a sandwich whenever he'd missed a meal tweaking the engines or streamlining the power reserves. And one day, when Scotty brushed him off with,"I don't even have time for a sandwich right now, I need to get these engines back online before we're late to the Shadow Proclamation!" Keenser took the sandwich and broke it down into bites to feed to Scotty.

They'd managed to fix the ship in time to argue Earth's continued protected status from certain less savory spacefaring peoples, and as a bonus, Scotty discovered to his relief that he didn't have to make the first move.

The feeding led to touching which led to...well, Scotty wasn't sure it could be called sex by any standard Earthling definition, but Keenser left him feeling like a languid housecat in a sunbeam. The raw affection that Scotty could now easily read in Keenser's every move humbled him; given how divided his attention was between the Enterprise and then all the people in his life, Keenser could have easily left him rightly feeling like less of a priority than the ship.

Keenser rarely climbed above Scotty's head, for all the available perches in engineering. The day that Scotty resigned because Kirk was being unreasonably and unusually pigheaded, Keenser had watched the escalating argument from up high, worried eyestalks flicking back and forth between Scotty and the captain he called friend. "Come down from there," he snapped. _It'll be all right, we'll sort it through._

Scotty had not planned on Keenser following him off the ship, but couldn't bring himself to protest. He'd lost his lady, he'd lost his captain...he couldn't imagine losing Keenser as well.

Keenser tugged his hand lightly in the direction of a bar they'd frequented before, one that had fine whiskey that met Scotty's approval. And Scotty proceeded to get drunk, rip-roaringly drunk. He cussed out Kirk, and wilted under Keenser's sharp gaze. _I know, I know, I miss the berk. He's probably in trouble right now._

The phonecall from Kirk had been a surprise; Scotty had expected more than a few hours to go by before Kirk's pigheadedness died down. He took another drink; this probably wasn't good. Probably on a Nero-scale of not-good.

He hung up, still feeling a combination of bitterness and resentment. "If he thinks I'm going to go do him a favor," he muttered.

Keenser's soft look made him sigh with resignation. "Fine, fine, I'll go." They stood up and left the bar for a shuttle bay. It was easy enough to commandeer a shuttle; Montgomery Scott's name was the worst kept secret about the transwarp equation confiscated by Starfleet. 

Scotty boarded the shuttle, then realized he heard Keenser's tiny pitter patter behind him on the ramp. He turned and held up his hand. "You're not coming this time," he said ruefully. "I don't know what Kirk's got himself into, but knowing him it's probably a world of trouble."

Keenser's eyes were ever-eloquent even as he searched instinctively for a high perch, and punctuated his thoughts by squeezing Scotty's hand.

Scotty squeezed back with a grin. "I'll be back before you know it."

Keenser gave the faintest nod before stepping away from the shuttle. Scotty turned into the shuttle and began prelaunch preparation, knowing without looking that Keenser was making his way up the rafters of the shuttle bay, and would not be coming down until Scotty was too.

Scotty let the warmth fill his body before he piloted the shuttle out of the bay. _All right, Jim, let's see what I find at those bloody coordinates._

END


End file.
